Many vehicle doors have an interior door handle at the front end of the vehicle door. The vehicle door handle controls a door latch which is placed in the door towards a rear end of the door.
A control rod guide is typically provided to transfer movement from the door handle to the rear latch. A rod guide typically provides alignment for the control rod. The rod guide also prevents the control rod from rattling within the vehicle door. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,403 issued Oct. 12, 1993, to Compeau et al. and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a rod guide is formed integrally with a plastic mounting panel which is provided inside a vehicle door. The plastic mounting panel mounts the vehicle door regulating hardware.
The rod guide of Compeau et al. provides a cradle having a recess which receives the control rod. A first pair of flex arms are positioned on one side of the cradle and a second pair of flex arms are positioned on the other side of the cradle. The first pair of flex arms reach over the top of the recess and are bent inwardly so that the control rod may be thrust into the recess by deflecting the first pair of flex arms outwardly. The first set of flex arms restore themselves and lock the control rod against removal. The second set of flex arms are similar in construction and operation.
To reduce noise within the vehicle, and also to lower ergonomic efforts associated with opening and closing a vehicle, some of the newly developed automotive door latches have lower release effort requirements. This allows the door to open with a lower force pull being exerted on the interior release handle. However, the rod guide of Compeau et al. places linear friction forces upon the control rod which place a limit on the minimum force requirements for pulling on the door release handle.
It is desirable to provide a rod guide which can laterally secure the control rod yet impose very low frictional loads upon the control rod during linear movement of the control rod.